Apparatus and method for improved print output

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for producing a stack of documents, each having one or more pages, separated into documents. An input mechanism receives printed sheet material, which is cut by a cutter into document pages having a first dimension and flag sheets having a different dimension. A page laying unit stacks pages corresponding to a document in sequence and interposes flag sheets between successive documents. The direction in which the dimension of pages and flag sheets is different lies transverse to the direction of cutting.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This is the first application filed for the present invention.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The invention relates to printing and in particular to anapparatus and method for producing a stack of documents that are easilyidentified and separated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Retrieving printed documents from a stack of many printeddocuments often proves to be a difficult and error prone task.Determining where a multi-page document begins and ends in a stack ofpages, identifying the individual documents that are stacked in anoutput tray and separating the desired document is a cumbersome task.The problem is exacerbated with the advent of print servers, in which anumber of users may remotely direct a print job to a common server.

[0004] In order to separate print jobs, whether or not sent fromdifferent sources, numerous approaches have been attempted. First, coversheets may be automatically inserted between jobs. Such cover sheets,which have the same dimension as the page sheets, not only demonstratethe beginning (or end) of a print job, but also may identify theparticular job by the text printed out on the cover sheet.

[0005] Other approaches have been attempted to ensure that one documentis separated from another. For example, the pages comprising a print jobmay be stapled together. However, the stapling process mutilates thepages of the document, which may not be desirable. Alternatively,successive documents may be stacked at a slightly offset from oneanother, so that a document may be easily identified. Typically, theoutput tray is configured to permit successive documents to bepositioned at one of two offset positions, so that every second documenthas the same offset position. While this approach is effective for thepurpose of separating out document in the output tray, once a documentin the middle of the stack has been removed, the separation of theadjacent document will be lost. Other output trays provide more than twooffset positions to avoid such difficulties, however, this introducesconsiderable additional mechanical complexity to the output path of theprinter.

[0006] There is therefore a need for a printing apparatus and method forproducing a stack of documents that allows easy identification andseparation of documents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] It is an object of the invention to provide a printing apparatusand method for producing a stack of documents that are easily identifiedand separated into respective documents.

[0008] Accordingly an apparatus is provided for stacking output of aprinter. The apparatus comprises an input mechanism for receivingprinted sheet material from the printer, a formatter for producingdocument pages and flag sheets, and a page laying unit for sequentiallystacking pages and flag sheets to produce the stack of documentsseparated by flag sheets. The flag sheets have a different dimensionthan that of document pages, and thereby facilitate separation and/oridentification of the documents.

[0009] The input mechanism preferably comprises a feed mechanism forcontrolling reception of the printed sheet material from a printer at acutter. The printer may be a laser-writing printer, and ink-jet printeror a dye-sublimation printer.

[0010] The source of sheet material is preferably a web, and may consistof paper, film, metal, or cloth, that is cut to size by the cutter. Thecutter preferably comprises means for cutting consisting of a blade thatcuts the printed sheet material under tension, a laser cutter, oropposing blades for shearing the printed sheet material.

[0011] Preferably the dimension of the flag sheet that is different thanthe respective dimension of the documents pages is in a directiontransverse to a direction of cutting of the cutter.

[0012] The page laying unit may be adapted to collate document pages, orsort document pages.

[0013] Also according to the objects of the invention, there is provideda method for identifying pages corresponding to one or more documentsfrom a stack of pages. The method involves receiving printed sheetmaterial, separating the printed sheet material into groups of pages andintroducing flag sheets having a different dimension than thecorresponding dimension of the pages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Further features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description, taken incombination with the appended drawings, in which:

[0015]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printing apparatus connected toa computer; and

[0016]FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the printing apparatusshown in FIG. 1.

[0017] It should be noted that throughout the appended drawings, likefeatures are identified by like reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0018]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram 100 of a computer 102 connected 104to a printing apparatus 106. The connection 104 may be a computernetwork such as an Ethernet implementation; a serial connection such asuniversal serial bus (USB) or IEEE 1394 cable; a parallel portconnection; or a wireless connection such as Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11lb. The computer 102 preferably includes a print manager 103. Aplurality of remote computers 110 (only one shown) may also becommunicatively coupled to the computer 102 via a packet switchingnetwork such as the Internet 114. Images (not shown) 110 may betransferred from the remote computer 110 via the Internet 114 to theprint manager 103 in the computer 102, or may originate in the computer102.

[0019]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of theprinting apparatus 106 shown in FIG. 1. The printing apparatus 106includes a source of sheet material 204 which is preferably a web 202.The sheet material 204 may be, for example, paper, film, metal, orcloth. The printing apparatus 106 also includes a first feed mechanism206 for feeding the sheet material 204 from the web 202 to a printengine 208 which may be, for example, a laser-writer or an ink-jet printengine.

[0020] The print engine 208 prints images onto the sheet material 204.The images may be, for example, two or three dimensional images;holographic images; text; or any combination thereof. The print engine208 may print on either or both sides of the sheet material 204 toproduce printed sheet material 212. The printing apparatus 106 has asecond feed mechanism 210 for feeding the printed sheet material 212from the print engine 208 to a cutter 214. The cutter 214 thereforeincludes a web input mechanism that includes the second feed mechanism210 for receiving the printed sheet material from the print engine 208.

[0021] The cutter 214 cuts the printed sheet material 212 into sheets218 of an appropriate size. The cutter 214 may constitute, for example,a blade, a laser or shearing mechanism.

[0022] The printing apparatus 106 also has a third feed mechanism 216for feeding the sheets 218 from the cutter 214 to a stacker 220.

[0023] The stacker 220 is an embodiment of a page laying unit adapted tolay the sheets 218 into a stack 222 of documents 224. The stacker 220may be, for example, a mechanism for sorting and/or collating documents;or a tray for receiving pre-sorted/pre-collated documents.

[0024] The printing apparatus 106 may include a processor 230 coupled byconnections 235, 246, 248, 250 to monitor or control other aspects ofthe printing apparatus 106. For example, the processor 230 is coupled byconnection 235 to sensor 260, which senses a condition of the web 202,such as a “source empty” condition. The processor 230 is coupled byconnection 246 to the print engine 208, whereby the processor 230 maytransfer image data to the print engine 208. The processor 230 iscoupled by connection 248 to the cutter 214 for controlling the cutter214 to cut the printed sheet material 212 into sheets 218 in accordancewith available data and a predetermined program. Finally, the processor230 is coupled by connection 250 to the stacker 220 for controlling theoperation of stacker 220 or for sensing a condition of the stacker 220such as a “tray full” condition.

[0025] The printing apparatus 106 also includes a communicationinterface 232 coupled by a connection 234 to the processor 230 andadapted to communicate with the computer 102 (FIG. 1) via the connection104, whereby print job information is obtained from the computer 102.The processor 230 is also coupled by a connection 238 to a keypad 236for a user (not shown) to input commands to the processor 230, andcoupled by a connection 242 to a display 240 to permit the user toreceive messages generated by the processor 230.

[0026] A memory 244 is also coupled to the processor 230 by a memory bus252 for intermediate storage and processing of images received from theprinter manager 103 (FIG. 1) via the connection 104 and thecommunication interface 232 before the image data is transferred to theprint engine 208.

[0027] The sheets 218 produced by the cutter 214 may be of a first size,such as letter, legal or A4, referred to herein as pages; or a secondsize having a dimension, such as length or width, different from acorresponding dimension of the first size, referred to herein as flagsheets 226. The dimension of the flag sheets 226 is preferably greaterthan the respective dimension of the pages.

[0028] The flag sheets 226 separate the pages into logical groupings. Anappropriate logical grouping may be a print job, a part of a document,or any other serial set of pages identified by a processor 230. Forconvenience, such logical groupings are referred to herein collectivelyas documents 224.

[0029] The printing apparatus 106 produces the stack 222 of documents224 that are partitioned by flag sheets 226 that facilitateidentification and separation of individual documents in the stack 222and reduce retrieval errors.

[0030] Advantageously, the flag sheets 226 facilitate the identificationand/or separation of the documents 224 by a user (not shown). It shouldbe noted that the documents 224 may be copies, unique documents, or anycombination of 226 may be identical to one another the two. Also, theflag sheets may have unique printed images to facilitate identifyingindividual documents 224.

[0031] Preferably, the shape of the pages in a document 224 or of theflag sheet 226 separating the documents 224 is rectangular.

[0032] The use of flag sheets 226 having a different dimension than thecorresponding dimension of the pages constituting a document 224provides a mechanism for easily identifying where a document 224 beginsand ends, without mutilating the pages of the document 224, such as isthe case with the use of staples. Additionally, the identification ofwhere documents 224 remaining in a document stage 222 begin and end ismaintained, even if a document 224 has been retrieved from the middle ofthe stack 222.

[0033] The embodiments of the invention described above are intended tobe exemplary only. The scope of the invention is therefore intended tobe limited solely by the scope of the appended claims. For example, itmay not be strictly necessary for the printing apparatus 106 to useprinted sheet material in a web, which material is cut to length by acutter. Rather, the printed sheet material may be pre-cut and anappropriate size of printed sheet material used for both the documentpages and for the flag sheets. For example, a document consisting ofletter-sized pages may be separated by a flag sheet of legal-sizedimension. In such a case, the identification of the separating flagsheets may be enhanced by using printed sheet material for the flagsheet having a different colour, texture, thickness or consistency thanthat used for the pages of the document.

I/We claim:
 1. An apparatus for stacking print output, the apparatuscomprising: an input mechanism for receiving printed sheet material froma printer; a formatter for producing document pages and flag sheets, theflag sheets having a different dimension than that of the pages; and apage laying mechanism for sequentially stacking pages and flag sheets toproduce a stack of documents separated by flag sheets.
 2. An apparatusas claimed in claim 1 wherein the dimension of the flag sheet is greaterthan the corresponding dimension of the document pages.
 3. An apparatusas claimed in claim 1, wherein the formatter comprises a cutter forcutting the printed sheet material to produce pages and flag sheets. 4.An apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the dimension of the flagsheet that is different than that of the document pages lies in adirection transverse to a direction of cutting of the cutter.
 5. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the cutter comprises a bladethat cuts the printed sheet material under tension.
 6. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 3 wherein the cutter comprises a laser.
 7. An apparatusas claimed in claim 3 wherein the cutter comprises opposing blades forshearing the printed material.
 8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1wherein the input mechanism is adapted to receive the printed sheetmaterial from a print engine and to provide it to the cutter.
 9. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 5 adapted to receive printed sheetmaterial in web form.
 10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 adapted toreceive printed sheet material in paper form.
 11. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 1 adapted to receive sheet material in film form. 12.An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 adapted to receive sheet material inmetal form.
 13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 adapted to receivesheet material in cloth form.
 14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1wherein the page laying unit is further adapted to collate documentpages.
 15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the page layingunit is further adapted to sort the document pages and flag pages. 16.An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the formatter comprisesmeans for retrieving pre-cut flag sheets for provision to the pagelaying mechanism.
 17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein theflag sheets are of different character than the document pages.
 18. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the flag sheets are ofdifferent colour than the page sheets.
 19. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 17, wherein the flag sheets are of different texture than the pagesheets.
 20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the flag sheetsare of different thickness than the page sheets.
 21. An apparatus asclaimed in claim 17, wherein the flag sheets are of differentconsistency than the page sheets.
 22. A method for identifying pagescorresponding to one or more documents from a stack of pages, comprisingthe steps of: receiving printed sheet material; separating the printedsheet material into groups of pages; and introducing flag sheets havinga different dimension than the corresponding dimension of the pagesbetween consecutive groups of pages.
 23. A method as claimed in claim22, wherein the step of separating comprises the step of cutting theprinted sheet material into pages having a first dimension and the stepof introducing comprises the step of cutting the printed sheet materialinto flag sheets having a different dimension.
 24. A method as claimedin claim 23, wherein the step of cutting the printed sheet material intoflag sheets comprises cutting the printed sheet material in a directiontransverse to the direction along which the dimension is measured.